2/07/2011

The time to determine the future of the East Side is now. Well, it’s actually between February 28 and March 5, when the City of Buffalo is hosting a series of neighborhood workshops to get the public’s input on what will be the first detailed land use plan assembled in Buffalo since 1977.

Kehr Street, looking North

Why is this important? Mayor Bryon W. Brown is undertaking one of the most significant planning projects in over a generation, putting into place master plans for the development of every neighborhood and an entirely new, green zoning code (the first since 1951) that will give these plans “teeth.” The Mayor has dubbed the initiative the Buffalo Green Code.

The upcoming neighborhood workshops will be the foundation for shaping the City’s long-term strategy on nearly any issue that touches “land use,” a catch phrase that includes everything from urban design, transportation, public space, renewable energy, to economic development.

What do you want to see for Buffalo’s East Side? Employment sites in job-strapped neighborhoods? Cleaned up brownfields? Restored landmarks? Parks in place of vacant lots? More healthy food options? Land banking? Want to stamp out the dreaded Vinyl Victorian once and for all? Want a boulevard in place of the Kensington?

Whatever your priorities are, they become part of the plan only if you show up and speak your mind. There are nine neighborhood workshops in all. Learn more about them here. The core East Side neighborhoods are covered in three of these workshops listed here: